1. Field of the Invention
In general, the present invention relates to a ball pitching machine. More particularly, the invention provides a new pitching machine or converter to existing machines that allows pitching a ball at different user-selectable trajectories, speed, and or sequences.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various forms of ball pitching machines are known in the prior art which are said to simulate the speed and trajectory of balls as if pitched by an actual person. These machines are frequently designed to employ a spring actuated arm mechanism, employ at least one rotating wheel or a pair of rotating co-acting wheels, rely on pneumatic pressure, or employ converging and diverging rotatable discs, to propel the ball.
In order to more accurately simulate the action of a pitched ball, it is often more desirable to utilize a machine having a pitching arm. A pitching machine with an “arm” movement is generally more realistic for purposes of batting practice because it is a better simulation as to the actual throwing by a real pitcher, therefore giving the batter a more realistic practice session. Although, there is an obvious difference between a real human arm movement and a pitching machine arm, the pitching machine arm does allow for a more realistic timing by the batter due to ability to appropriately judge the timing of the pitch by watching the arm and ball giving some notice before the ball launch, like a human pitcher in a wind-up, as opposed to wheel machines that give no visual notice before the launch.
The more accurate or heavy duty arm pitching machines are often heavy and bulky. These machines often allowed the ability to effectively vary the speed of the pitched ball as hurled from the pitching arm, but the throwing motion limited the ability to change the pitches on a horizontal axis. Furthermore, these machines typically required manual adjustment for the speed and or vertical trajectory by means of hand cranks.
An example of a ball-throwing machine that employs a spring mechanism to propel the ball as generally described is U.S. Pat. No. 3,757,759 which issued on Sep. 11, 1973 to J. G. Haworth for Automatically Varied Oscillation Type Ball Projecting Device. Perhaps the most common spring-actuated machine is the IRON MIKE pitching machine marketed by Master Pitching Machine, Inc. of Kansas City, Mo. The IRON MIKE machine comes in both a baseball and a softball version. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,524,749 which issued on Jun. 25, 1985 to Paul S. Giovagnoli for Spring-Type Ball Pitching Machine.
In a commercial environment, this spring-actuated arm pitching machine is typically installed in an individual batting cage, frequently with a ball retrieval system. It is mounted at one end of the cage with the hitter at the opposite end. As generally stated above, the advantage that a spring-actuated pitching machine has over conventional wheeled machines is that the movement of the spring-actuated arm gives the hitter some warning that a ball is about to be delivered and assists him or her with timing the pitch. Unfortunately, these machines tend to always throw the same horizontal trajectory due to the movement of the swing arm not being adjustable to vary the horizontal axis. This typically allows the player to be prepared to hit a predetermined path which is not typical of an actual game setting or a human pitcher in general. Currently, if a batter wishes to work on hitting pitches that are “inside” or “outside” the normal path, the player must move respectively closer to the path or farther from the predetermined path.
As the demand increases for better pitching machines that more closely simulate real pitching and batting, today's players are looking for new means to have more realistic batting practice. The prior art devices and methods have failed to bridge the gap between the user needs and the currently available alternatives. Therefore, an extensive opportunity for advancements and innovation remains where the prior art fails or is deficient.